Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have started to make preparations for inviting people from overseas who disseminate information via the social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as part of the countermeasures against "baseless rumors" that have damaged sales of Japanese agricultural products and tourism industry. More than 500 million people in the world are said to use the social media. The ministry has seen the great impact of the social media in the revolutions in the Middle East, and decided to use the social media to counter the "baseless rumor" by having people disseminate the messages of safety and favorable impressions.

In the second supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2011, the ministry obtained 1.5 billion yen for the countermeasures against "baseless rumors". This plan to invite Facebook and Twitter users with large followers is part of the countermeasures.

Starting November, the ministry will invite the total of about 15 people over time from Europe, the United States, China and the Middle East who have large Facebook or Twitter followers. They will be selected by the Japanese embassies and consulates overseas, and they will be invited to Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures.

There is no guarantee that these social media users will disseminate messages that are favorable to Japan. But the section in charge of the project at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hopeful that "They will send out messages after they actually visit the places and eat the local specialty food. We believe that the messages will be more credible, not the baseless rumor. The messages will be sent out fast, in great numbers, and widely". In addition, the Ministry will invite foreign media - newspapers and TV stations - to the disaster affected areas, so that they can send out information on Japanese agricultural products and tourism to a wider audience.

Other countermeasures against "baseless rumors" include airing TV commercials outside Japan using celebrities telling the foreign viewers how safe the Japanese goods are, and fairs and food tasting events at the Japanese embassies and consulates overseas that feature the goods and produce from the disaster-affected areas.

So the Ministry correctly identified the social media like Facebook and Twitter that played a significant role in the Middle East uprisings. What they have chosen to ignore was that the social media was used by the protesters as a countermeasure to the government propaganda, not the other way around.

Using the same budget, the Ministry is hiring two people with collage or graduate degrees to tweet in English on behalf of the Ministry, and take care of these social media foreign visitors when they come. The message that they should tweet is about how charming Japan is and how well it has recovered from the earthquake/tsunami disaster. The position is temporary, lasting 6 months starting October 3, and you are to work 5 days a week excluding weekends and holidays for up to 29 hours per week. One hour lunch break. English proficiency is a must.

If you think you've got what it takes to do the government propaganda, contact:

外務省外務省大臣官房広報文化交流部総合計画課 経理庶務班電話番号：03-5501-8127ファックス：03-5501-8126

I wonder who will appear in the commercials? Which celebrity will be purchased? Anyone that you would recommend?

Anyone reading this blog with a facebook following or twitter please post it on and make this info go viral.. that should get the word out that the fucking pricks who run Japan and their propaganda machine are full of shit hopefully will fail in their attempt to brainwash people.... this is psychological war now.

Hello - I posted this Article at HP PLUS a combo of some of your comments (which are SpotOn!). Thank you EX for all you do!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/northeast-japan-earthquake_n_964767.htmlThread is Moderated so takes awhile to appear.

Lady Gaga is a sellout bitch who thinks she is cool but far from it, as for the Foreign celebrities in Japan expect Phil Spector to kiss ass and tell us its all ok in Fukushima... Spector is a well known sell out on the Nanking massacre by the way..

Phil Spector has been in prison for the second degree murder of Lana Clarkson since 2009. He's serving 19 years to life and all appeals have been exhausted and denied Japan would need to pull some major strings to spring his crazy ass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector#Murder_of_Lana_Clarkson

I think Borat, Ali G and Bruno would be good candidates to speak on Japan's behalf. The upside is they'd only need to hire one guy.

Ali G: Booyakasha! The Geezer what made this mess he iz a criminal! And not even da good type wot deals drugs and does drive bys.

Bruno: Ich was going to become famous by solving a world problem! But which one? Clooney's got Darfur, Sting's got the Amazon, and Bono's got AIDS! Luckily, there was still one Scheißloch left to fix and here I am. How do you protect yourself from a dildo? You must protect the poopenschafte. Japan must must stop bending over, bowing to the people in charge it only entices them to go balls deep.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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